Leighton Academy
by xCharleex
Summary: Leighton Academy is a pre-eminent establishment for the education-—BLAH! BLAH! What crap! Still, crummy education beats rotting in a cell. And Leighton had another perk too—-I'd never admit it-—but there sure was something about Jesse Andersen...  JxJ
1. Prologue

**Leighton Academy**

**Prologue by xCharleex**

**Leighton Academy is a pre-eminent establishment for the education—BLAH! BLAH! What crap! But, crummy education beats rotting in a cell. And Leighton had another perk too—I'd never admit it—but there sure was **_**something**_** about Jesse Andersen...**

**[JxJ] [Sex, Violence, Death] [Language]**

_Welcome one and all, old and new. I have embarked upon a new adventure with my two favorite characters: Jesse and Jaden. My last story, was called Of Rain, Destiny, and Love (.net/s/5124177/1/Of_Rain_Destiny_and_Love - if you're interested) And without further ado, here is my latest creation, Leighton Academy. The story is written from the point of view of various characters. This first chapter is all Jaden :) So enjoy. Review. Much love. Peace. _

**Prologue – Jaden Yuki**

_Shit!_

It was really the best word I could come up with to describe my life—kind of summed it all up in a neat package. The kind of package that smells and that nobody wants to go near. The kind of package that needs to be flushed away into a dark hole and never seen again.

Yep. That was me.

"Hi, Jaden, I'm Clara."

I looked up at her; she was smiling. That pissed me off. She was kind of hot, or she would have been in leather, at least—kind of in a dominating-lawyer-that-teaches-bad-boys-the-law sorta way. And I definitely fit into that category. Bad. Yeah.

She stopped smiling and sat down. I think she'd wanted me to grin and shake her hand or something. I'm not sure if she had quite figured it out, but I wasn't in the best of moods right now. The whole stuck in a watch-house thing wasn't _really_ my thing.

"Look, Jaden," she lowered her voice and leaned across the metal table—like it made her my friend instantly, or something— "I know you're probably still a bit shaken up, but I'm confident that the magistrate will let you serve a suspended sentence."

She waited for me to start whooping, or dancing, or smiling, or something—I think—but then she realized I hadn't spent 3 years at law school, so I didn't really know what the hell she was talking about.

"No jail time," she clarified, widening her eyes and looking at me with the I'm-honest-please-trust-me-because-I'm-trying-to-help-you face. That improved my mood slightly, but only because she almost looked like she meant it.

"Yay," I said dryly, looking at her properly for the first time.

She grimaced, and then sat back a little, tapping manicured fingers on the metal table. The sound was annoying. Really annoying.

"Jaden?"

The brunette lawyer, Clara, had asked me something—whoops. Well, maybe if she hadn't been trying to dent the table with her silly little nails we could have had a conversation, "Huh?"

"I was saying, Jaden, that you'll need to phone your parents. We have to release you into their custody, otherwise you'll have to wait here until your hearing—and that could be months from now."

I stared at her. I must have had a blank look on my face, because she pushed a cell phone towards me and smiled a really encouraging smile, and repeated herself, "can you call your Dad? Get him to pick you up?"

I swallowed, "Could be a bit tricky...seeing as how I haven't seen him...oh...ever..."

She grimaced, mumbled something—"your Mom, then? Any family, over 21?"

"I—I don't have—" I chocked. I didn't mean to, but I did. Mom was definitely not in a fit state to pick me up from anywhere...coffins didn't have wheels, after-all. And family—HA!

Clara's grimace seemed to reach its peak. She probably felt sorry for me. "Where do you live?"

"Projects," I mumbled. Technically I shouldn't still be there—what with Mom dead and everything—but nobody had bothered to kick me out yet (it had been a month, or something) and I sure as hell wasn't going anywhere fast.

Clara made this weird 'Oh' sound then, like she'd finally given up trying to understand things. She grimaced again, then muttered something about there being nothing she could do, since I didn't have anywhere to go.

_Shit._

I was going to have to tell her. Anything was better than staying in _this_ place any longer. Even the community housing block he lived in was cleaner than the filthy cell he'd been cooped up in for the last couple of hours.

"Umm. Clara?"

I used her name. I did need a favor, afterall...

"I _do_ have a place to go to, actually. Only...they're probably not expecting me. And...I don't know the number."

She seemed to brighten at this. Figured. Only a lawyer would be happy at something that was so obviously making me miserable. Too bad I was out of options.

"Do you have a name? I can track down a number, and we can give them a call?"

"Well—it's not...umm...it's Leighton Academy," I mumbled and trailed off quietly.

A tiny laugh escaped her before she bit her tongue and grimaced again. Bitch. I changed my mind—she wouldn't even look hot in leather. She was just a bitch...an ugly one.

"Leighton? Are—are you sure?" she seemed almost about to laugh again. I almost wished I hadn't told her. _Almost._

"Yeah. I'm sure. My name's been down for—well—forever—I just never...went," I trailed off lamely again. I was doing that too much tonight, "My tuition's paid and everything," it sounded even stupider than it had in my head—and it had sounded _really_ stupid there.

Clara now regarded me with something between suspicion and jealousy, I guessed. Yeah. Fuck Leighton. She seemed like the type who tried to get a scholarship to the snooty place. Why anyone would bother is beyond me...

"Jaden. Leighton Academy is a—well, it's a very respectable—what I mean is—" Clara was the one being lame now. I kind of wanted to watch her squirm, but I recalled someone telling me never to waste a lawyer's time, but I wasn't sure if that applied if you weren't paying for it.

"Yeah. I'm poor, don't worry. I didn't pay for Leighton—it was my granddad. He paid for 12 years there and died before I had a chance to tell him I'd rather he bought me a dirtbike, or something."

"Or a house..." Clara muttered. Then she cleared her throat, seeming to catch herself. Maybe she thought I was lying, and wasting her time. Or, more likely, she was just jealous. She seemed like the type. Jealous of the shittiest thing any one person could ever do for another—_provide an_ _education at Leighton Academy_. I just about threw up. But if it got me out of here til my hearing—well—maybe granddad's total waste of time and money wouldn't be _totally _crap.

...still would have rather had the dirtbike, though.

A couple of phone calls and car rides later, I was sitting in some fancy wood-paneled office, looking at some guy called 'Chancellor Shepherd' who seemed sort of cool. He'd warbled on about responsibility, and being a good student, and I'd made all the right noises in all the right places—even though we both knew exactly why I was here—and then he chilled out a heap and started telling me how happy he was to meet me, finally, and how glad he was I'd showed up. He said something about granddad too, and what a great man he was. But I wasn't really listening—I was watching his mouth and the short black beard he kept, which was weird, I thought, because he was bald. Shiny head too.

I waited for him to stop talking so I could thank him and go to my room. It didn't happen. Shepherd clearly didn't appreciate that after 4 hours in a jail cell, 6 hours waiting while Clara dithered about calling people, and another 14 hours travelling by car, plane and then boat to Leighton, I was really just hoping to sleep a little. My mental math made me grimace then, because exactly one day ago (24 hours, for those without my incredible mathematical knowledge) I was lying face down on rain-splattered pavement getting steel shoved around my wrists, and bundled into a wagon.

I looked at the office again—the giant glass pane looking out onto a vista of mountains and the ocean, behind the enormous desk and the equally large bookcase to the left. Paintings hung everywhere—they were probably priceless originals, but I didn't know anything about art, so they could have been ordinary knock-offs too. I didn't care really. I just wanted _out_!

Shepherd finally shut up as I was looking at the ornate golden clock (probably solid 24ct gold, at that) which proclaimed it to be 8'o'clock in the evening. He muttered something about showing me to my room, and then we were off.

It took less than ten minutes to traverse the many wings and floors and halls and easements and corridors that made up the sprawling Leighton Academy, and head across the grounds to one of the houses. I hoped they didn't have some lame setup with _actual_ houses and points and sport and competitions between them. If they did...what was I saying—of_ course_ they would. Hadn't I avoided coming to this place for 9 years _because_ of such crap? All the good it did me now.

We arrived outside my new room—number 404—and Shepherd knocked, which seemed like an unusual thing to do since I—OH GOD! NO! HELL NO!

"I'm not sharing a room!" I shouted before I could stop myself. I didn't add that my only objection was that I'd be sharing with some snobbish, rich, pushy, overbearing douche of a kid who—

The door opened to reveal said douche. He was tall and had a wide (currently yawning) mouth, but I noticed his hair first, it was kind of a greenish-blue—I guess I'd have called it teal, but I didn't know a whole bunch of colors, so maybe that was wrong. Then I started as I took in his eyes—_that _color, I knew. Emerald. Fucking Emerald.

The presumably snooty-douche-rich-kid-guy was also well muscled and had a respectable set of abs going on—not that I was _looking_ at another dude's body...just something I happened to notice on account of him wearing nothing but a towel loosely round his waist.

Shepherd was talking and gesturing to the douche, but I don't think emerald eyes was listening any more than I was, because we were both looking directly at each other. Shepherd cleared his throat and broke the silence—we couldn't have been staring for more than a few seconds though—it wasn't weird…

I continued to tell myself how _not_ weird my initial reaction to my new room-mate (I cringed) had been. And then before I knew it, Shepherd was gone, and I was left all alone with emerald eyes, and he _really_ needed to put a shirt on...


	2. Chapter 1: Prince

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**Leighton Academy**

**Chapter One by xCharleex**

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**Leighton Academy is a pre-eminent establishment for the education—BLAH! BLAH! What crap! But, crummy education beats rotting in a cell. And Leighton had another perk too—I'd never admit it—but there sure was **_**something**_** about Jesse Andersen...**

**[JxJ] [Sex, Violence, Death] [Language]  
**

_Whatup. Had some great early reaction to the prologue—very short and merely a taste of the story to come – I hope you guys will stay with it through the end. Thanks heaps to my old readers for coming back from Destiny etc, and I hope you find Leighton just as good! As is tradition, and as thanks for my reviewers, here are my responses. And feel free to ask questions, make insinuations and generally say whatever comes to mind haha, it's one of the best things about reading along with the story, IMHO :)_

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_**Review Responses**_

_Chrisandersenyuki: _don't sweat, all will be revealed about Jaden's crime. It wasn't too serious, because as we know, Jaden is just a sad and misunderstood guy haha. Buried deep inside he has a heart of chocolate gold.

_PrincessAnime0: _well you are gonna have to read this chapter then haha. :)

_Luving Randomness: _welcome back! So glad to have a return reader :D Haha yesh Jaden's had a harsh life. Poor guy. Oh well haha.

_ILuvJadenandJesse: _Bwahha, thankyou very much. I hope you enjoy it, it's quite a lot different from Destiny, particularly the shift in perspective (third to first is freakin me out) but it just seemed more appropriate, so I hope it continues to work :P Guess we'll see haha.

_Oak-chan:_ Thanks :) I hope you enjoy this one even more :D

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**Chapter One: Prince – Jaden Yuki**

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"Hey," one hand clutched his towel in place around his waist, the other was extended in front of him. He had a sort of half-smile on his face, lighting up those striking eyes, "It's Jesse."

I took his outstretched hand and shook it slowly, trying all the while to drag my eyes away from the emerald stare. Somehow I found a way to mumble my name at him, flicking my eyes around the—our—room, trying to avoid being caught again in his gaze.

I was sort of surprised, I have to admit. I'd been expecting typical in-your-face-rich kind of style—like Shepherd's office (and the rest of Leighton I'd seen) had been. Instead, the—our—room was furnished like some kind of ultra-modern apartment. The floor was tiled in stark white where we stood, which reflected the shine from the steel hanging lights above. The tiles continued behind Jesse to form an open broad study, where a pair of desks sat, computers humming upon them. To the left of Jesse, and just beyond I saw granite black of a kitchen bench-top. The cabinets were all white and shiny like some kind of embossed plastic—it reminded me of Japan, don't have a clue why though. Beyond the kitchen the tiles ended abruptly to be replaced with the thick fluffy white carpet of the lounge—it would be stained beyond recognition in a matter of days, I could just tell. A pair of white leather couches faced the large plasma screen TV, which apparently completed the school's idea of a lounge. I spied a pair of sliding glass doors right at the back of the room, leading to what I presumed was a balcony. It was too dark to see out.

Jesse walked me through the whole apartment without saying a whole lot. It took all of 6 seconds til we stood in the centre of the lounge. There were only two doors leading from here; mine and Jesse's rooms. Emphasis on the plural there; no way would I have shared a room with emerald eyes...particularly with his loose attitude when it came to clothing. Fortunately, because Leighton was a total waste of time and money, each room also had an ensuite. No bathroom sharing either...maybe I could get through the whole year without ever seeing my room-mate again. I thought about that for a bit, while emerald eyes told me something about something.

"Uhh? Jaden?"

OK. I have a listening problem. So sue me. He probably just thought I was slow, or something. Stupid rich kid.

"I'm kinda tired," I said, effecting the fakest yawn in the history of fake yawning, and then I walked towards the nearest bedroom door and opened it as I stepped inside. It was filled with all of Jesse's crap.

"That's my room. Yours is the other one."

"Good thing you're here," I said dryly, still looking into Jesse's room, "Might not have figured that out on my ow—_IS THAT A CAT!_"

I heard him suppress a laugh at my outburst. He didn't bother answering, it was definitely a cat—a small, slightly short, kind of bluish-purple cat with piercing ice blue eyes—apparently everyone at this academy had freakishly light, piercing eyes. Oh joy.

I wondered if maybe it was too late to go back to jail.

"Her name's Ruby," Jesse explained.

Normally I wouldn't have cared—wait—no I didn't have a reason _to_ care. I shouldn't have cared at all. So why did I? I should have told emerald eyes to shove it. I should have strode past him, gone to my room, slammed the door, and told him exactly what I'd do to his cat if it came anywhere near me. But I didn't. I just didn't.

The cat—Ruby—jumped from the bed-side table and stalked closer to me, fixing me with its oddly light eyes. I wondered, fleetingly, if cats could read minds. _That_ would be cool. It would also explain how she made me so nervous.

"She's—uhh..."

Jesse chuckled after my silence, "What's wrong, Jaden? Cat got your tongue?" He seemed to find that funny. Clearly he hadn't heard very many good jokes. Poor kid. I'd have to help him out with that.

The cat reached me and started rubbing all over my legs, purring like a—well like a cat—I guess...

Jesse stepped into the doorway beside me and crouched down to look at Ruby. There was something very wrong about emerald eyes being half naked and down that low while I was standing right next to him. So—spatial awareness was going on my list of things to teach rich boy.

...this guy was going to take some work.

"So how come you're here mid-term?" Jesse asked. Mercifully, he stood and walked into the kitchen behind us, grabbing an unfinished soda from the side. I followed to the granite bench that divided the kitchen from the tiled dining area and the lounge. I sat on one of the bar stools. He stood facing me, inside the kitchen, leaning on the opposite counter, drinking in silence.

"Oh. Want one?"

"No."

He waited.

"Long story," I said finally. Somehow I didn't think the whole 'criminal-needs-a-place-to-chill-for-three-months' thing was going to make my stay here any easier.

"Oh." Jesse said quietly, and sipped his soda.

The silence lengthened.

"So...Jesse—" I really wasn't comfortable with the whole silence thing, "anything fun to do around here?"

He looked at me askance, apparently unsure whether I was kidding. _Shit!_ I took that as a definite 'no' then. He used the hand that was holding up his towel to ruffle his blue hair as he thought about it properly, taking another sip from his soda.

He was answering my question, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes were fixed on the twining gold threads that wrapped around Jesse's left wrist and halfway up his forearm. The shimmering bracer was incredible to behold. The threads of gold were of varying thickness, some as thick as a finger, others as thin as hair. Together they wrought an intricate pattern that was impossible to follow from tip to tail, but it seemed like the whole armband was a single continuous piece. The gold was so shiny I didn't realize how I possibly could have missed it.

"Wha—?" I interrupted him to point in awed silence at the _thing_ wrapped around his arm. The _thing_ which I was pretty sure was worth enough to feed a few third world countries—not that I was an expert...but still. DAMN!

Jesse looked abashed as he caught the meaning of my silent, slack jawed stare. Figures. He's sweet while walking around in front of a complete stranger half naked, but point out the blaringly obvious golden riches wrapped around his wrist and he gets embarrassed.

"It's called a _Thela'dorian_" he said quietly, holding the armband more fully under the kitchen light so that the golden metal caught the glare. Normally I'd think he was showing off. But this one time—for the most incredible _thing_ I'd ever seen—I let it slide.

"Sort of stupid, really," he added, "I hate wearing it, but—well you can probably see; can't exactly slip it off..." I noticed then just how tightly wound the thing was around the smallest part of Jesse's wrist. It would be impossible to remove without breaking it. Weird. Why wouldn't you put a catch on a thing like that.

He trailed off, "guess that's the idea though," he laughed bitterly. I didn't get the joke. Then again—this kid's sense of humor was so bad it probably wasn't anything funny at all.

"I don't get it," I said simply.

Jesse put his soda down on the counter behind him and stepped forward so that his waist aligned with the top of the granite bench-top of the kitchen. His gold-wrapped arm grabbed the side of his towel again, and with his other hand he turned down the edge of the right side of the towel. I flinched as he did. I'd figured, even with his loose attitudes towards clothing, the towel would stay firmly wrapped around his waist.

But Jesse had only turned out a couple of inches of towel, revealing in full, his right hip—though it was still a little too low on a guy's body for me to look at with any measure of comfort.

This kid is weird, I decided. Then I noticed the point of this particular exercise, and flinched again. There, on his right hip was a deep scar of knotted white skin, formed into some kind of intricate symbol. It seemed familiar somehow—

_Holy crap. _

I realized that the symbol had been deeply carved into Jesse's flesh repeatedly until it had scarred—I shuddered to think how much that'd hurt. But the reason it looked so familiar to me, was because it had been repeated subtly on his golden bracer as well. The thinner gossamers of gold repeated and wound the pattern endlessly around thicker repetitions. Layered upon one another to form the single solid piece, I couldn't imagine the amount of work that had gone into creating Jesse's arm-band. This kid wasn't weird—he was...something else...

"It's the royal crest of my family," he explained, as if that somehow made it okay that someone had strapped gold around his wrist and carved symbols into his hip. "_Thela'dorian_ means 'promise band'. I got it two years ago—the same time I got this," he indicated his scar, "not that I wanted either...but—"

Something hit me then. "You're _royalty_!"

Jesse blinked and nodded, "don't get excited," he laughed darkly, "I'm prince of a tiny country that most people have never heard of. Rich enough to be able to afford to waste all this gold though, _unfortunately_," he held up his armband and sniffed in sinister amusement.

I was right. Jesse had _the worst_ sense of humor EVER. Though with the whole royalty thing, plus the scarred hip, a golden promise band, not mention the weird cat—all that'd probably be enough to ruin anyone's comedic side.

Poor stupid rich kid.

"Uhh—not for nothing," I said slowly, not entirely sure why I was bothering, "but—if you don't like the gold and the...other stuff—why'd you do it?"

Jesse's emerald eyes seemed to glint with some kind of amusement. His mouth curved into a hard line. "Would you believe nobody's ever asked what it is I want?" he barked a harsh laugh—again I had to remind myself that he wasn't operating under normal humor laws—"All my so-called '_friends'._ My family."

"So—why didn't you just say no? I mean—how'd they get that gold thing on in the first place?"

"I don't know." He gritted his teeth, remembering, "I was unconscious , mostly. When I woke up I had this _thing_ and a bunch of burns underneath it. Apparently they thread the whole thing _around_ the arm as one piece—I never paid much attention to the how's, Jaden. I just had to deal with it."

I thought I had it tough. At least my mum had liked me while she'd been alive. Rich kid's parents tortured him, apparently.

"As for why I didn't '_say no_'—" Jesse grimaced, talking low and angrily, "you've never met my father—so you wouldn't understand."

Silence.

Epic Silence.

Painful, unflinching, unending silence.

From Jesse's bedroom, Ruby meowed quietly. The fact that we could hear her was just a testament to the incredible awkwardness between us now. Emerald eyes was staring at the granite bench-top—he was leaning back against the far counter again, knotted white scar hidden securely under his towel once more, while his golden arm was obscured halfway behind his back, clinching his towel at the waist.

Who'd have thought it? Spoiled rich kid, wasn't so spoiled after-all. Surprisingly, I didn't envy Jesse one bit—I wondered if everyone at Leighton would be as messed up as emerald eyes was. Heck, maybe my story, my status as a potential criminal, wouldn't even stand out amongst all the crazy crap going on here.

Then again, maybe it was just Jesse. Maybe he was just totally alone with his weird life with nobody else who'd ever been able to relate to the low blows he'd received. Maybe _that_ was why we'd somehow ended up sharing a room—the two most messed up people at the Academy—maybe _that_ was why, for some inscrutable reason, I wanted to know more about him...to talk to him...to be around him. Maybe that was the reason I couldn't stop myself from glancing every few seconds at the strong line of his jaw, or the almond shape of his eyes, the dark brush of his lashes, the—_holy shit what is wrong with me?_

Maybe I was just a freakin' fruit. Maybe I was just thinking too much about him. Maybe I was actually drunk. Maybe I was hallucinating, and was still in jail—

I faintly hoped the last one was true.

"So—I'm gonna—go," I said lamely, trailing off as I hauled myself off the bar stool and quickly crossed the gap of the dining space and the lounge to my room.

Without pausing to flick on the lights, or survey my new home for the next few months, I hurled myself onto the bed, pulled off my clothes and crawled under the sheets. It was without a doubt the plushest, warmest, most comfortable thing I'd ever slept in, near or around. It was as soft as—

_Nah._

Too tired for simile. I closed my eyes, and let myself drift.

All through the night I was followed by a bald man who was a shepherd, and his flock of green-eyed sheep. But these sheep refused to grow their coats out past their hind legs—and they all had a single golden leg, except for one, who the other sheep ignored, and the shepherd kept trying to lead off cliffs, and into rivers.

If I'd been on drugs, I would have stopped taking them...

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	3. Chapter 2: People

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**Leighton Academy**

**Chapter Two by xCharleex**

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**Leighton Academy is a pre-eminent establishment for the education—BLAH! BLAH! What crap! But, crummy education beats rotting in a cell. And Leighton had another perk too—I'd never admit it—but there sure was**_**something**_**about Jesse Andersen...**

**[JxJ] [Sex, Violence, Death] [Language]**

_So long since an update. But don't worry. I'm back bebeh. And it's the reviewers that bring me back. So keep reviewing, and I'll always come back :) You don't know how much it means to read them, so thankyou thankyou to all of you, and that's why I take the time to respond to each one, so if you've reviewed the previous chapter, check out my response below :D_

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_**Review Responses**_

_Sakural7865:_you got it, thanks very much and I'll be sure to update more frequently in the future!

_Dork Girl:_thanks thanks thanks thanks :D And don't worry, I'll do my best to improve my horrible horrible update rate :)

_Luving Randomness:_welcome back! So glad to have a return reader :D Haha yesh Jaden's had a harsh life. Poor guy. Oh well haha.

_ILuvJadenandJesse:_Of course! Jaden can fix anything haha, well… And I LOVE writing dream sequences haha, and Jaden's character in this fic is a heap of fun to write as well. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the update :)

_chrisandersenyuki:_ Haha, yesss! I do love writing Jaden in this one. I'll get to have fun with Jesse too as well when I write from his POV, I hope you like that also.

_Araide-san:_ Wow thankyou very much—I am a terrible terrible updater, but I DO finish things eventually haha, so thanks for the kind words from Destiny—hope you stick with Leighton :)

_Luving Randomness:_ I could write dream-sequences ALL YEAR LONG. Hahha, yeah Jess' dad…Hmm Hmmm interesting :) Guess you'll have to wait and see if he makes an appearance ;)

_Oak-chan:_ Haha, he'll be OK, he's got Jaden as a room-mate now :D I updated…finally :P

_PrincessAnime08:_ YES! It can only get better for them both from here :) …or perhaps not :O

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**Chapter Two: People – Jesse Andersen, Jaden Yuki.**

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"Mornin'," I called cheerily to my new roommate's back as I stepped from my room.

Jaden Yuki, transfer student, and now my permanent roommate (according to Shepherd) swiveled around on his barstool, simultaneously pushing another half of toast into his mouth...a whole half. Wow.

I stood sort of still while he looked me up and down—still chewing—"Ah…hey…" he said slowly between mouthfuls. I couldn't quite figure out whether he kept looking at my stomach or my arm and the hated golden bracer that encircled it, not that it really mattered. Maybe he was admiring my abs—

"Yo! Space out much, dude?"—or not.

The brunette glanced at me askance as I blinked and shook my head a little. "Sorry. Totally gone. What'd you say?"

"I said where's your cat at?" he turned his head a little, as though sizing me up from a different angle, "Say...you're not...like...a total head case are you?"

"You better hope not," I laughed, "and as for Ruby—she'll be around sometime later. At least—if she wants feedin' she will."

Jaden half smiled, looking almost reluctant "Yeah well…remind me to get a lock for my door. Just in case." I wasn't entirely sure if he was being serious.

We both tried to ignore each other while I made my own breakfast—egg whites, muesli, oats, sultanas and a dollop of plain yoghurt blended together. I couldn't help but glance his way every few seconds—just to check whether he was still staring—and each and every time we caught each other's eyes for a fraction of a second before looking away. That was normal. We were just...sizing each other up.

"You're not _actually_ gonna drink that are you?" a distinctly _Jaden-esque_ voice sounded from behind me as I poured my finished concoction into a cup. I turned to meet his eyes one more time that morning, but this time neither of us looked away.

In answer I just smiled and downed the whole thing.

Jaden was impressed.

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I was horrified. No wait. I was disgusted with my new room-mate. Not only had he kept looking at me nervously while he made his (putrid) breakfast, but he seemed to have decided he was catching me looking at him, when it was _obviously_ the other way around.

Still, he'd seemed OK before then, and last night too...apart from his various psychopathic issues relating to his family, being a prince (still totally weird to me) and generally having no proper sense of humor. Maybe he was growing on me. Maybe that was why, underneath my urge to throw up, I sort of wanted to laugh, or smile, or...something!

He put down his massive steel cup, the kind that milkshakes usually come in, not foul egg and oat monstrosities. I was pretty sure he was smirking—sometimes it's hard to distinguish between a smirk and a smile.

But still. I was pretty sure it was a smirk, and a totally undeserved one at that. And we were _still_ watching each other.

OK. I take it back. He wasn't growing on me; this Jesse kid was a total space case-it would've just been safer to spend 3 months in pris—

A loud thumping on the door interrupted my internal monologue. I hated that, but at least it distracted emerald eyes.

No sooner had he glanced in the general direction of (our) front door, had it burst open, ushering in a tall, handsome brunette boy. Handsome—like…in a classical sense. Not like _I_ thought he was handsome—just that it was possible to tell.

"So it's true!" Handsome announced in a tone of revelation, pointing directly at me and obviously addressing my room mate.

"Rude to point," I pointed out loudly. Handsome took the hint, surprisingly, and seemed to look at me properly for the first time. He walked closer, Jesse said something—probably introducing me or something.

"Well _Jaden_," he rolled my name around his mouth, "let me be the first to welcome you to Leighton Academy."

What a dork. And aside from that, did he really think he was the first? "Uh. Thanks." I replied, which was pretty nice of me, but Handsome wasn't listening, he was back to talking to my room mate again. Were all the rich people at this school (except Jesse) obnoxious?

"When we found out there was a new kid we just _knew_ you'd get stuck with him. Guess your lucky streak's finally over, huh Jesse?"

Wait. What was _that_ supposed to mean? Had I just been insulted? Man I knew I hated rich people for _some_ reason, "And what's unlucky about having me as a room mate?" I enquired delicately. Just kidding. I sounded pretty menacing. Apparently Handsome thought so too.

"Nothing, Jaden" Jesse clarified, cracking a smile; completely unmenaced, "I was just the only one in our year who had a dorm to themselves this year. That's all Atticus meant."

Atticus? Who the hell was—

"Ohhhh," Atticus was Handsome, I'd cracked the case. But I nodded to show I understood about the whole room/luck situation too. I disagreed that Jesse's lucky streak was over. In my three months at this crappy school, I'd probably make him into a whole new (_much better_) person—complete with a sense of humor, and totally devoid of psychological issues.

Well...maybe not _totally_. I mean, he _was_ pretty messed up.

"Yeah. That's right," Atticus insisted nervously, "Err—so, anyway, up for a beach sesh this morning?"

"Hmm? What do we have?"

"Maths."

"Beach or Math? You had to ask?"

I couldn't believe my ears. Someone needed to stick these kids on instant replay because I _really_ could not believe my ears. These two... Psycho-messed-up Prince and Handsome coward, rich kids at one of the top schools _ever_ were ditching the very first lesson of the morning.

"Uhh—Jaden?" Jesse laughed. I couldn't help the ridiculous grin that had spread across my face. I couldn't believe my luck. Of all the square, crappy, useless rich kids to get stuck with, I get stuck with the only one who isn't square, crappy and useless. Which just left richness. Oh, and various psychological issues, but we were working on those already!

"How about you, Jaden? Feel like hitting up the bea—"

"Yes!"

.

* * *

.

Well, I had to hand it to Jaden. He snuck out like a pro. The three of us, Atticus, Jaden and I, had left the dorm almost immediately, stopping only to grab the barest of beach essentials. But getting out of Leighton Academy was _almost_ as hard as getting in.

We crouched into the undergrowth of the school's bordering forest, skirting it's edge, and staying low as we moved parallel to the five-story high completely glass wall of Leighton. If someone noticed a head, a toe, or even a hair sticking out the edge of the forest where we crawled, the game would be up. But Atticus and I had done it a thousand times, and Jaden was obviously pretty used to skulking around as well.

Atticus reached the wall first, Jaden followed and me, bringing up the rear. Speaking of rears—Jaden's was directly in front of me as he waited for Atticus to navigate the far wall. Leighton's high wall theoretically prevented students getting out without authorization. Of course, it wasn't a very good theory, since ivory climbers and a couple of well-placed trees from the forest made it a pretty simple obstacle to navigate.

After a bit of climbing—and a tense moment when Jaden lost his grip and fell down onto me, kicking my shoulder with his size 12 sneakers ("Argh FUCK!" – "Oops, sorry Jesse")—we were perched on a sturdy branch, overlooking the wall.

"Now's the tricky part," I whispered into Jaden's ear on the right. You had to whisper because security had acoustic sensors placed along the wall, just to make sure nobody was tunneling into the school. No. Seriously, that's why.

"You see that camera there," I pointed to a camera on part of the main building, angling down towards the path to the service gate—a path which ran parallel to the forest we'd just crawled through, "there's another camera on this section of the wall, but you can't see it from here. Fortunately it's on exactly the same timer as that camera over there, which means...if you time your jump just right, and run down the far stairs, the camera misses you completely."

"Oh don't look like that," I punched him lightly on the shoulder, still whispering, "I'll tell you when." I stopped as Atticus nodded to us both and leapt off the tree branch. He hit the ground with a crouch and, without a second's hesitation, ran directly forwards, reaching a great flight of concrete steps that ran down towards the main road. He was out of sight by the time the camera swiveled back.

"OK," I whispered again, "Together...on three...one...two...three!"

Jaden jumped a fraction of a second after I did, I watched out the corner of my eye as he landed lightly and sprung right back up to begin his mad dash for the stairs. We ran together, falling into one another's strides. I glanced at the brunette, my new room mate for the foreseeable future—his face was transformed; his eyes were lit right up, cheeks lightly flushed from running, a wide smile tearing at his lips— I laughed as he met my eye and grinned. We made it easily, but I flung myself down the steps for good measure, and slumped on the bottom one, sitting next to Atticus who had apparently already recovered from his own dash.

"That was awesome," Jaden laughed, panting a little, bending over on the step above us.

Atticus jumped up first, "Thought that was cool—wait til we have to get back in! Now let's go!"

And with that, he was off, Jaden leapt over me and was right after him, legs pumping hard to hit each step. The smaller brunette glanced back at me as he ran, grinning wickedly as he realized I was still sitting down, totally dazed.

I launched myself off the bottom step and took three at a time to catch up. I'll admit, I was impressed—there weren't many people that could keep up with Atticus and I. I remembered when Syrus had tried, and failed...and broken his ankle. Good times.

I overtook Atticus—Whoa! When had Jaden overtaken him? My pace quickened and I saw a flash of the younger brunette's smirk as I flew past him, the wind tearing at my hair and face as the three of us jumped the last steps of Leighton, and emerged onto the main street that lead into the city proper, blending with the few people who meandered along the sidewalk. Nobody here, or in the city, would know us as students at Leighton, which meant just one thing. Freedom.

And, as I stole a glance back at my two companions, I realized I'd somehow (almost accidentally, really) found someone else who felt that same exhilaration; that wild abandon which came only when you were free—I'd found someone who'd make my existence at Leighton just a little less dull—I'd found Jaden Yuki.

.

* * *

.


End file.
